


Seeking Truth

by vulcanhighblood



Series: Suspicious Minds [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Awkward Conversations, Episode: s04e10 Suspicious Minds, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:46:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24075406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulcanhighblood/pseuds/vulcanhighblood
Summary: Querl suffers in the aftermath of Colonel Haley's cruel and unusual interrogation. Alex discovers that Haley is even worse than she thought.(Follows the fic "Resistance To Interrogation", set during s04e10 "Suspicious Minds").
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Querl Dox
Series: Suspicious Minds [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734034
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Seeking Truth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CycloneRachel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/gifts).



The DEO Headquarters looked very different in the light of day when compared to the gloomy atmosphere of the night before, Querl decided. He scanned the room, noting several places where the phosphorescent paintballs had impacted the pillars and winced. It was… quite noticeable. He hoped the paint would come off easily. He hadn’t had time to test it. He hadn’t had time for much preparation at all, really. Between Haley’s interrogation, meeting Nia, and trying to arrange a way to locate invisible assassins, Querl had to make some hard decisions about what parts of the plan needed time. In retrospect, he probably should have allotted more time to recovering from Haley’s interrogation, since that had been a major factor in his own performance.

After being unceremoniously thrown from the second floor by one of the invading Morae, Querl had landed  _ very _ hard on the ground. Normally, neither the Morae attack nor the hard landing would have posed much of an issue for him. However, Querl’s peripheral nervous system had undergone an intense disruption mere hours earlier, and as such, his extremities were rather susceptible to painful neuropathy if agitated. This was an unfortunate but fairly common side effect of Kystryyka venom, typically subsiding within 36 to 48 hours post-administration of the antivenom. Unfortunately, the Morae attack had occurred mere hours after the treatment, and thus Querl’s systems had reacted poorly to the physical damage. Normally, his combat style relied on prediction and evasion, a style made more complicated when he was unable to see his opponent. The complexity was only increased by the fact that his recovery from Colonel Haley’s…  _ unconventional _ (possibly illegal, certainly unethical) interrogation tactics had left him fatigued, his muscles stiff and movements sluggish. Although he’d managed to land a shot on the Morae, one phosphorescent paintball did not provide sufficient data for his predictive combat style, and even if it had, Querl doubted he would have been physically capable of responding quickly enough to make use of the data. 

The Morae’s single strike had caused his entire body to seize up, which made it difficult to activate his Legion ring in the short span of time he was airborne. This, in turn, led to a painful meeting of body and concrete facilitated by the inexorable force of gravity. Which led to  _ another _ bout of nigh-crippling pain, leaving him on his back, gasping for breath, unarmed and alone, in a room with a Morae assassin on the loose. Querl was fortunate that he had not been the Morae’s intended target. In fact, the Morae had been quite single-minded in the pursuit of Colonel Haley. 

Once Alex had dragged him back to the computer stations, Querl had lain motionless, hearing the chaos erupt around him as the Morae attacked the DEO agents - he noted, absently, that the Morae did not kill anyone there, which was an interesting point to consider. Vengeance may have been the motive for this attack, but it seemed the Morae may have recognized that the DEO agents were not the enemy. Querl had worried this might not be the case. Then again, perhaps he was giving the Morae too much credit. A trained assassin would likely avoid collateral damage in favor of taking down the primary target, too. Nature or nurture? It was an age-old question, and remained a compelling topic of debate even in his own time. 

Still. Querl had lain on the floor, trying to recover from the attack, until Alex came back in, looking extremely upset. She sent all the agents home (or to the medical facilities, if they were injured), telling them the Morae had been contained and that Colonel Haley was indisposed. At first, Querl had assumed that she meant unconscious or injured, though he hadn’t expected it to be by Alex’s own hand. 

“I called J’onn,” Alex had told him. “Haley learned Supergirl’s identity, she threatened Kara, I - I punched her.” She laughed at that, almost hysterically. “God, it felt good.”

“I’m sure it did,” Querl replied, groaning softly as Alex helped him stand. “You are going to ask J’onn to remove the memory of Supergirl’s identity?”

“That’s the plan,” Alex said weakly. “I gotta get back there. Are you going to be okay? Do you want to come?”

“To be perfectly honest,” Querl began, proceeding to be less than completely honest, “I think I would like to sleep.” Alex chuckled at that, patting Querl’s shoulder, a sharp prickle of pain branching out from the point of contact. He barely managed to contain his wince at the sensation.

“Good idea,” she said with a tired smile, “I’m looking forward to getting some sleep after all this, too.”

Resisting the urge to shrug away from the painful contact, Querl nodded. “I will see you in the morning, then, Director Danvers.”

Alex nodded distractedly, glancing back down the hallway. “Right. In the morning.”

It felt oddly surreal, coming in the next day and seeing the place full of light when it had felt so dark and sinister mere hours earlier. Querl had not slept, choosing instead to run a system repair in the hopes that his nerves would begin to recover more quickly, though he was not altogether confident that it would succeed. As far as he was aware, very few Coluans had ever been exposed to Kystryyka venom, and so he had very little knowledge of how to begin treating its lingering effects. Besides that, it had been difficult to sit still, his limbs occasionally buzzing with phantom pain, or experiencing a strange absence of sensation that must have been another form of neuropathy stemming from the damage caused by the venom. So Querl dismissed the idea of sleeping altogether, choosing instead to pace in his small DEO-issued bunkroom and wondering if J’onn had seen Haley’s memories of the interrogations. 

He knew he himself had not revealed Supergirl’s secret, and he was unsure of who  _ had _ done so. He was disappointed, of couse, but he also thought he might understand the reason why. Haley had no qualms about using Kystryyka venom on Querl, and he didn’t expect her to be especially kind to the humans she was questioning, either. Even so, it was disappointing. He was glad to have it over and done with, at least for the moment. 

As he wandered across the room, he noted Alex, also examining the streaks of paint that were a stark reminder of the terrible evening they’d had the night before. “I didn’t realize quite how permanent that paint was going to be,” he commented after a moment, drawing attention to himself as he approached. His gait was awkward, but at least he had his fall from the night before as an excuse - though admittedly most of the stiffness was not related to the fall, it was an easy explanation to fall back on.

Alex huffed lightly, still gazing at the paint. “Well, if this is the only lasting damage from yesterday’s attack, then I will take it.” 

Querl continued his slow approach, noting, “There’s that, and I badly bruised my tailbone when I fell over the balcony.”

“Is that why you’re walking like that?” Alex asked.

Querl didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t exactly want to get into the reasons  _ here, _ in a very public setting, so he skirted the issue. “Don’t laugh,” he chided, knowing his tone was edging towards petulant but too sore to care.

“It’s a bruise?” Alex teased, raising her eyebrows at him, a playful grin tugging at her features. 

Querl tried not to take it personally, but again, he  _ really was _ in pain. “My pain is at a seven,” he shot back, a bit more harsh than he’d intended, but getting his point across. 

“Sorry,” Alex half-apologized, but she was still smirking at him, so Querl wasn’t sure of the apology’s authenticity. 

And suddenly, it no longer mattered, as he spied something  _ terrible _ , enclosed in a capsule and being wheeled into the room on a cart _. _

“I’m sorry,” Alex repeated, obviously seeing the look of distress and misinterpreting it. “What’s wrong?”

Moving closer so he could speak in a lower tone, Querl instead said the words currently  _ screaming _ in his head. “I- I didn’t know they had those on Earth,” he said. “It wasn’t in the database.”  _ Like the Kystryyka venom and the Morae, _ he didn’t say.  _ What else is Colonel Haley hiding from us? _

“What is that?” Alex asked, turning to look at him with concern. 

Dropping his voice even lower as Colonel Haley crossed the room towards them, Querl answered. “That creature is a Vertullarian.” Pausing to allow the Vertullarian, Colonel Haley, and the two Agents accompanying the creature to pass, Querl watched them go by before continuing, “A Truth Seeker.”

Colonel Haley, having apparently accompanied the Vertullarian to its destination, approached the two of them with a smirk that Querl desperately wished to wipe from her face. His only solace was knowing that Alex likely hated that smirk even more than he did. “Well, now that we’re done with the excitement from yesterday,” Colonel Haley began (which was a funny way of deflecting responsibility for being the target of a vengeful Morae who had been forced into the life of a child soldier), “we can carry on with the investigation into Supergirl’s identity. By the end of the day… I’ll get her,” she declared, her confident smirk firmly fixed in place as she turned on her heel and strode away, having apparently finished antagonising Alex.

Alex turned to look at Querl, her eyes widening with anxiety. “We need to talk,” she said, jerking her head to indicate they should find a more private location. “Come on.”

* * *

Alex could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen Brainy look _genuinely disturbed_ by something. Annoyed, sure. Confused, certainly. But _upset?_ _Afraid?_ It made her worry, because when Brainy was genuinely distressed it usually meant _bad things_ were coming. The two of them slipped into a small, rarely-used corridor that she knew had a camera blind spot - though admittedly, Brainy had likely already used his technopath-stuff to loop the cameras or something like that. He usually thought of that kind of thing long before anyone else. Alex had been worried that Colonel Haley might find DEO footage of the people who knew Kara’s identity talking about it, but Brainy had assured her that ever since he’d begun working at the DEO he had intentionally modified all the security camera footage to protect her secret. It was incredibly thoughtful, and at the time, Alex had thought it unnecessarily overprotective. Now, she was very grateful to have someone with that level of foresight on the team. 

“Okay Brainy, level with me. How bad is it?” Alex demanded, trying not to sound upset. She didn’t want Brainy to think she was angry with him, but the fact was, she  _ was _ angry. They’d already erased Haley’s memory once, they couldn’t keep asking J’onn to do something he found morally reprehensible. She’d thought they were past this, already! Apparently not. 

“Vertullarians are a species that compel truthfulness,” Brainy said hollowly. “Colonel Haley was not exaggerating. Unless we take drastic measures, she will certainly know Supergirl’s identity by the end of the day.”

“There has to be some sort of rule against it,” Alex protested, “I mean, truth serums are illegal-”

“Vertullarians are, generally speaking, harmless,” Brainy explained. “Unless you are allergic, the worst of it will be some discoloration on the skin at the point of contact during the truth-seeking process.” He made a face, then. “Though to be frank, I doubt Colonel Haley is especially concerned with legality at this juncture.”

There was a bitterness to his tone that set off warning bells in Alex’s mind, though it took a moment to piece together what was bothering her. “Did something happen?” she asked.

Brainy’s eyebrows crinkled in a vaguely confused expression, “I’m not sure. A lot of things have happened in the past twenty-four hours. Could you be more specific?”

“I just mean,” Alex gestured abstractly, trying to say what she meant even though she herself was still piecing together what it was she was asking. “Haley is morally  _ bankrupt. _ I was gone for a few hours yesterday with the whole General Tan fiasco.” Allowing her concern to show on her face, Alex asked, “Did anything bad happen while she was here - for lack of a better word - unsupervised?” 

“Not while you were with General Tan,” Brainy practically muttered.

“So something _did_ happen,” Alex surmised. 

Brainy made a face. Alex wasn’t sure exactly how to categorize it. It was some odd combination of reticence, outrage, and anguish. 

Whatever that look was, it  _ definitely  _ didn’t mean anything good. “Brainy?” Alex leaned forward, genuinely concerned and edging towards upset. “What happened?”

Brainy began fiddling with his Legion ring, a clear sign of discomfort. “My interrogation,” he said, haltingly. “It was… unconventional.”

Frowning at that, Alex thought back to their conversation the day before. “How so?” she asked cautiously. 

“As far as I am aware,” Brainy was avoiding her gaze now, staring firmly at the wall somewhere behind her shoulder, “confessions obtained under duress are not legally admissible as evidence in this country. Colonel Haley does not appear to heed this convention.”

“Duress?” Alex repeated, a shiver running through her as she remembered her conversation with Haley the day before.  _ Standard protocol with tender-age aliens. Trauma as a method of discipline and obedience. We knew that if they feared us, they would obey us.  _

Brainy swallowed hard, still avoiding eye contact. “I did not tell her-” he began.

“Brainy, that never even occurred to me,” Alex interrupted. “I’m  _ worried _ about you. Besides, you had the compartmentalization thing. I trust you. I’m just concerned about what I think you’re saying.”

“Ah. Yes,” Brainy was still twisting his ring anxiously. “She attempted to use pain as a form of coercion,” he said, so fast that his words almost tripped over each other as they rushed from his mouth. 

Alex couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her. “She did  _ what?” _

“It won’t have any permanent side effects,” Brainy said, lifting his eyes to meet her gaze, painfully sincere. “But… well, I am not merely experiencing a bruised tailbone.”

Suddenly, Alex felt horrible. “Oh,  _ Brainy,” _ she breathed, looking him over. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, really. To see any further evidence of damage, maybe? “I made fun of you for that! You should have said something!”

Now Brainy was beginning to look embarrassed. “Please don’t worry about that. I know your words were intended as… er, how would you put it,  _ good-natured ribbing?” _

Alex nodded, but she still felt bad. She resolved to stop teasing him so much, or at least make sure he wasn’t  _ actually hurt _ before she started in on him. Oh. Oh no. She’d definitely jumped to conclusions earlier, too. “You weren’t joking yesterday,” she said softly.

Brainy blinked. “It is unlikely,” he said after a brief pause, “Though I cannot verify your statement with absolute certainty unless you are more specific.”

“After the interrogation, when you said - what was it, eighteen days? And Haley was just as bad?” Alex could hear her heart beat in her ears, a whooshing sound that made her feel slightly dizzy. “You really meant that.”

Brainy cocked his head slightly. “Yes,” he said, cautiously. “It was a serious moment. I wouldn’t make a joke at a time like that.”

She needed to sit down. “Oh my god,” she said faintly. “Oh my god, she tortured you.”

“Director Danvers - Alex - are you all right?” Brainy took a step forward, hands outstretched but hovering over her shoulder like he wasn’t entirely sure how to help but wanted to at least give the appearance of helping.

“I’m fine,” Alex said quickly, taking a deep breath.  _ Pull yourself together! _ She told herself. “Are  _ you _ all right?”

“I will be,” Brainy answered, a bit tartly. “The side effects should fully clear my body in the next twenty-four hours or so. Kystryyka venom is rare, so I don’t fully know what to expect for Coluan physiology, you see.”

“ _ Venom?” _ Alex repeated, fighting to keep her voice down. “She  _ poisoned _ you?”

Brainy seemed to legitimately consider the question. “Technically yes, though the purpose was more nuanced. The venom activates pain receptors of the peripheral nervous system.”

“Brainy!” Alex gasped, more because she couldn’t think of anything else to say in the wake of  _ that _ revelation. Unbidden, she remembered Haley’s voice, chiding her:  _ Your sense of outrage is misplaced, Danvers. They aren’t humans. Every soldier in every war has had to do things they considered awful. _ She’d never bothered to ask Haley  _ how  _ awful. She’d naively thought she’d heard the worst of it. She’d been  _ wrong. _ “Brainy, I am  _ so _ sorry!”

Brainy’s eyes flicked back and forth like he was scanning a page that only he could read. “There’s no need for  _ you _ to apologize,” he said after a moment. “I was willing to accept this possibility when I agreed to keep Supergirl’s identity a secret.” 

“Maybe  _ you _ were willing to accept it,” Alex said vehemently, “but  _ I’m _ not. Oh, I hate her!”

“Yes, well, now that we’ve cleared that up,” Brainy said, almost dismissively, “We need to decide what to do about the Vertullarian.” 

Alex pressed her lips together. “Right.” She glanced back at Brainy, not yet willing to leave the topic of Haley’s  _ criminal _ behavior. “Do you need… a hug? Or something?”

“At the moment, any form of physical contact causes me some measure of pain,” Brainy said, giving her a confused look. His expression softened a moment later. “Ask me again in twenty-four hours.”

Alex nodded. “I can do that.”

“As for the Truth Seeker,” Brainy said cautiously, “I believe we will need to consult with J’onn. As far as I know, Vertullarians sense  _ lies. _ So if no memory of a thing exists, it follows that there would be no lie for the Truth Seeker to latch onto.”

A sickening sensation churned in Alex’s stomach. “We need to erase our memories.”

“Not just ours,” Brainy clarified, “We need everyone who works at the DEO and knows Supergirl’s true identity to consent to a memory wipe. If not, Haley will have her answer by the end of the day.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Alex asked again, still looking Brainy over. Aside from a little stiffness, he didn’t seem to be suffering much, but it still bothered her that she hadn’t  _ realized. _ Some Director she was turning out to be, to not even realize when one of her agents - one of her  _ friends! _ \- had been badly hurt. 

“I will be,” Brainy assured her. “Please, don’t worry about me. We have more important matters to attend to.”

Brainy could say whatever the hell he wanted, Alex thought viciously, but it wasn’t going to make her stop worrying. “All right, we’ll table it for now. But if you decide to take me up on that hug offer…”

“If I feel that I am in need of tactile displays of comfort, I will be sure to let you know,” Brainy told her with absolute sincerity.

Despite herself, Alex smiled. “Good.”

Nodding sharply, Brainy withdrew his cell phone from his pocket, lifting it to his ear. “I’ll call J’onn,” he said.

Alex sighed. This day really couldn’t get any worse.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, CycloneRachel! This one's for you!
> 
> I am, as you may have realized by now, very bad at fluff. I am sorry that this Alex/Brainy fic didn't have nearly enough bonding or fluff. It's just a dark topic, and I'm very good at keeping things dark...
> 
> In related news, this was my first time writing Alex POV and I was _terrified_ because writing a new character is always scary - I have to figure out the voice and make sure they don't sound too much like the other character... anyway, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easily I was able to ease into Alex's POV. I can't really speak to how good it is (or isn't), but it at least felt pretty natural when I was writing it. So that's a relief.
> 
> The third and final oneshot will likely have J'onn POV, which _really_ scares me. So uh, wish me luck on that one.
> 
> Thanks as always for reading, and again, happy birthday to CycloneRachel!! :D


End file.
